Official blog of the Xaverian Hawk

Category Archives: community

The Alumni Service and Outreach Committee worked hard and planned a fantastic day for the Xaverian community to volunteer at Camp Harbor View in Quincy…

…and then it rained.

Three weeks later, sunshine greeted seventy-five Xaverian volunteers as they arrived at Camp Harbor View. There was plenty of work to be done, and the alumni, students, faculty and staff were up to the challenge. Representatives from Camp Harbor View estimated that the day’s labor saved the camp $30,000. This was the second year Xaverian Brothers High School has volunteered at Camp Harbor View. Thank you to all our volunteers!

In 2010 Xaverian alumni, students, family, friends and faculty members attended the first ever Xaverian Outreach Day. The day was dedicated to providing service to Camp Harbor View. The group spent the entire day cleaning and painting the camp to get it ready to serve over 800 kids from Boston’s neighborhoods this summer.

Camp Harbor View, is a partner of the Boys and Girls Club of Boston.Our goal is to gather alumni, students and other members of the Xaverian committee to participate in a full day of clean-up, painting, landscaping and building at the camp following the wear and tear of the winter months.The ability to assist the camp in this effort will save them over four weeks of time due to the limited staff available to them to perform the same task.

We are still in particular need of a volunteers with some carpentry or building experience.

There will be a bus leaving from Xaverian in the morning and returning in the afternoon. Participants will also be able to drive if they would like. There will be a BBQ lunch served. Family and friends are always welcome!

Join us for the 2011 Service and Outreach Day! A successful service day depends on your participation and support! Click here to register!

“…(Jenny) Reks has been very active promoting Mission E4 and getting help for Haiti, not only by making a presentation to the Foxboro book club and others, but also at her son’s school, Xaverian Brothers High School in Westwood.

The school has adopted “Mountains Beyond Mountains” for its One Book-One Community read and will host the Pulitzer-prize winning author, Kidder, next Thursday night (March 24) for a free program starting at 6:30 p.m. at the school on Clapboardtree road in Westwood.

(Laurie) McDonald and (Jenny) Reks became friends when both had sons who became friends at Xaverian. Two other mothers in the group, Chris Gumaer of Foxboro and Rose Petti of Wrentham, also have sons who have graduated from XBHS.

Now, through the book club, they share a common desire to help Mimit and other Haitians living in poverty.”

Pulitzer Prize Winner Tracy Kidder will speak about his book Mountains Beyond Mountains, which is about Dr. Paul Farmer and his medical and humanitarian efforts in Haiti. The event is open to the public, and Tracy Kidder will be available to sign his book following the presentation. For event information, click here. For an interview with Junior Talis Reks on his volunteer work in Haiti, click here.

Editor’s Note: Director of Communications Chuck Carmone ’85 recaps the latest edition of “Xaverian Magazine”. At the end of his blog post, find a link to a great interview with Brother Joseph Pawlika, a beloved Guidance Counselor here at XBHS. (NOTE: Xaverian Alumni: Did you get your copy of the Xaverian Magazine? If not, it’s probably because we do not have your address. Send your name, class year and address to notes@xbhs.com, and we’ll get a one in your hands.)

This year’s Xaverian Winter Magazine is the largest in school history. It’s over 70 pages packed with everything that makes Xaverian an amazing community. It was mailed out to alumni, parents, and given out during this year’s accepted student receptions.

Our cover story features the incredible journey of Xaverian entrepreneur extraordinaire Dennis Crowley ’94. Dennis is the co-founder of Foursquare—a social website that now has over 6 million users and is growing at a blistering pace (it was only 4 million when we wrote the story in December).

We have a great interview with Brother Joe Pawlika, C.F.X. who celebrates his 50 years of being a Xaverian Brother. Senior John Morton travels to Italy with Campus Ministry and also tells us about the rapidly rising SpiritHawk program.

Our fourteen sports teams all have a story to tell, especially the baseball team’s Cinderella story who went on to win the Division 1 EMass title. There are a dozen pages capturing the busy and interesting lives of our alumni, their reunions and events they comeback for every year to reconnect with their classmates. Classmates for 4 years. Brothers for life!

Also take a quick look at the middle of our magazine— it’s our 2010 Annual Report. We acknowledge the phenomenal support our parents, alumni, faculty, staff and friends provide Xaverian. Without their efforts Xaverian would not be the incredible place it is today.

This year’s Alumni Hockey Game was played at the Foxboro Sports Center last Saturday in Memory of Brendan Burke ’06 who tragically passed away in 2010. More than 40 alumni came out for the event, which began with a pregame ceremony with Brendan’s family.

The gold team defeated the blue squad in a thrilling, energetic contest that featured breakaways, highlight-reel saves, and an interesting “powerplay” goal in the game’s final seconds.

Following the action, there was a post-game gathering with pizza and refreshments. Many stayed to watch the Varsity hockey game. Alumni, coaches, family and friends then visited Waxy O’Connor’s in Foxboro for a post game reception.

With absolute certainty today was the best Awareness Day I have experienced in my four years here at Xaverian. The Awareness Day focused on the life of Rachel Scott, the first person killed at the Columbine shooting of April 1999. Her brother Mike Scott who said, “It is not an easy story for me to recall but I do it in her memory and for the challenge”, made the presentation.

This challenge exists in the name of the organization that Rachel inspired: Rachel’s Challenge. Today, her brother Mike explained what Rachel’s Challenge was founded on and its five challenges that exist within it. These challenges exist to foster growth, both spiritually and emotionally, with others. These challenges focus on recognizing those in our lives that need more attention and need more love. Rachel certainly epitomized that in her own life. For instance she would bring friends over to sit with a new girl who had recently lost her mother or by defending a disabled boy amidst taunting by others. In fact, this boy (who has become a friend of the Scott family) would have committed suicide if not for the efforts of Rachel to be his friend. Rachel’s life demonstrates that simple acts of kindness toward others truly lead others to be more aware of those in need not only in our communities at school but in our world as well.

Tomorrow afternoon we’re holding our annual Hawks in College Reception for all Xaverian grads who are home for winter break. It’s a very informal reception, but it’s one of my favorite events. This is a great chance to catch up with friends and teachers, while enjoying food and drinks provided by Fasano’s Catering (This could be your last free meal before you’re back at the college dining hall). If you can make it, round up some friends and come by the main foyer at 2:30pm.